Symptoms:People
with kidney stones experience a range of symptoms
from none to severe pain. When a small stone
sits in the kidney without blocking urine flow, it
usually causes no pain. However, if it passes into
the ureter, which is the tube connecting the kidney
to the bladder, severe crippling pain can occur.
As the stones moves from the kidney into the ureter (view
image) towards the bladder, mild to severe pain can start in
the back and move with the stone around to the side
of the abdomen and then to the groin.
Sometimes people will also notice blood in their
urine. Sometimes the blood is only visible in
the laboratory under a microscope. Passage of the
stone in the urine leads to a dramatic improvement
in the pain. Less commonly people will
experience dull back or flank pain. Some
people do not pass large stones, but instead "sand" with varying amounts of discomfort.
They will notice gritty material in their urine
often with blood.

Diagnosis:Most
people who experience the severe pain of passing a
stone usually go to a hospital emergency room.
There they are usually given pain killers and
intravenous fluids in hope that the stone will pass
on its own. Testing is also done to confirm
that a stone is present. These tests include a
urine studies to look for blood. In young
otherwise healthy people with characteristic pain
who should not otherwise have blood in their urine,
this is often a good confirmatory test. More
precise testing is done with either ultrasound,
computerized tomographic (CT or CAT) scanning,
and/or intravenous pyelogram (IVP).